Paint Pots Pre-School, St Marks

A book corner, craft and construction areas, a quiet area and a garden children can choose for their play give Paint Pots Pre-School, St Marks its character. In September 2022, children built cardboard houses and explored ice while adults introduced vocabulary about melting. The setting combines a school-site base on Stafford Road in Southampton with indoor areas for making, building, reading and quieter activities. Its appeal is the connection between children's interests and the everyday opportunities to explore them.

Ofsted rated the pre-school Outstanding at its 21 September 2022 inspection, with communication, independence and carefully adapted activities prominent in its findings. That judgement is a dated assessment. The current setting has 31 places in total and accepts children aged 24 to 60 months.

Attendance follows the school terms, with weekday opening hours of 8.45am to 3.15pm. For families whose childcare needs follow that calendar, this is a practical starting point.

Learning and Activities

A large indoor space brings together a construction area, craft area, book corner and quiet area. These give children different ways to spend their time: building something substantial, working with creative materials or choosing a less busy activity. The designated garden area adds an outdoor choice alongside the indoor provision.

The early years foundation stage sets the framework for children's learning, development and care. In September 2022, play gave children opportunities to practise language, explore materials and learn to do things independently.

In September 2022, children constructed houses with cardboard boxes of different sizes, adding features such as chimneys and windows. Staff prompted them to compare their models with nearby houses. That brought an imaginative building task into contact with the real surroundings and gave the children something concrete to discuss.

Ice provided another starting point that month. Adults talked alongside children's play, introducing vocabulary about temperature and melting as children handled it. The useful detail is the timing: language was attached to something children were experiencing, rather than introduced in isolation.

A further September 2022 activity involved investigating material threaded through plastic crates. Children lifted and rotated the crates to understand the arrangement, then reproduced the patterns themselves. Exploration came before imitation. It is a clear example of resources being used for investigation as well as making.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden belongs to the pre-school's own play space, while the indoor layout provides several activity areas within a larger space. Children can choose where to play and learn. For a parent weighing the physical environment, that combination of outdoor access and quieter indoor options is more useful than a general description of the premises as modern.

At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and staff skilled at spotting developmental concerns and working with other professionals to arrange early help. These findings give families a clear account of the support assessed at that time, rather than a promise about an individual child's future experience.

In September 2022, staff asked families who used another home language for familiar words and information about their culture and home life. Those contributions helped adults communicate with children and include family experiences in activities. The mechanism matters: parents supplied knowledge that staff could use directly with their child.

Communication with parents that month included daily conversations about children's wellbeing and achievements, supplemented by digital updates. This connected the session with home life and gave parents more than a brief account of which activities had taken place.

Everyday responsibilities also featured in September 2022. Children helped clean the play dough table and clear painting equipment before lunch. A music-and-movement activity brought together singing, actions and interaction with friends. These were ordinary parts of the day through which children could participate, contribute and practise doing things together.

Sessions and Attendance

The pre-school operates Monday to Friday during term time, opening from 8.45am until 3.15pm and closing for school holidays. The calendar therefore matters as much as the daily hours: families needing care during holidays must account for those closures in their arrangements.

The setting is based at St Mark's C of E School, Stafford Road, Southampton, SO15 5TE, just off Shirley High Street. Enquiries can be made through its location contact form or Express interest route.

Funding and Paid Extras

In September 2022, the pre-school received funding for early education for children aged two, three and four. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation.

Being based within a school does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process; the pre-school place and the school application are separate decisions.

• Term-time timetable. Opening hours run from 8.45am to 3.15pm on weekdays, with school-holiday closures. Compare that calendar with the weeks and hours your family needs covered.
• Attendance and funding arrangements. When arranging a visit, ask which booking patterns and funded-hours arrangements apply at St Marks, including how meals and consumables are handled in the quotation.
• School-site expectations. The pre-school occupies space within St Mark's C of E School. Choose it for the early-years experience itself, since attending does not secure a Reception place.

Paint Pots Pre-School, St Marks suits families seeking term-time preschool care, with a garden and an indoor layout that accommodates construction, craft, books and quieter play. Its strongest inspection-era examples connect language and independence with activities children can understand: building houses, experimenting with ice and helping with shared tasks.

The practical fit rests on the school-term calendar and weekday opening window. For families aligned with those, the physical choices and the detailed September 2022 account make this a setting worth considering closely.